Objective for this Page: To summarize stasimon 4, to
comment upon the chorusís blindness, and to analyze the chorus's effect on the
reader.

Summary

The chorus invokes others who have suffered a fate similar to
Antigone's. Danae was locked in a cell by her father because of a prophecy
that her son would kill him (sort of like Oedipus and Lauis but with a
generation in between). Zeus, the story goes, visited her as golden rain
and impregnated her anyway.

Nothing can save us from our fate.

Lycurgus mocked Dionysus and the Muses. Dionysus later returned to that
king's realm, drove him insane, and chained him to a rock. According to Classical
Mythology Online, scroll L, his people "tore him apart."

Finally, the chorus tells of the children of Phineus, king of Salmydessus, who had children by a woman named Cleopatra, daughter of the
north wind (not the later one who knew Caesar); these children were blinded at the instigation of Phineus' second wife, for
whom he had abandoned Cleopatra, whom he left chained in a stone tomb. She
was daughter of a god, but even to her fate was hard.

Commentary

Yo, chorus! Wake up! The gods, or "fate," didn't do this to
Antigone; Creon and his chicken soldiers did! Fate, schmate. Mean, self-serving
creatures did these things to mortals or fellow humans who seemed to threaten
them in some way. Two of the victims are women, and the agents who
murdered them were a father and a husband. By implication, this is the
company of villains to which Creon belongs.

Study Questions

Does this choral ode make you feel more sympathy for Antigone?

Does this choral ode make you feel more anger toward Creon? How does
it set up the confrontation with Tiresias that follows?

Assessment: Choose a study question and respond in a
paragraph, citing evidence from the play to support your point(s).

This instructional web was made in July, 2002, by Prof. Eric
Hibbison, who is solely responsible for its content.